UPHILL BATTLE: California's Nyan Boateng, a product of Lincoln High School, is using the NFL Combine to try and improve his draft status by overcoming questions about his character. Photo: AP

INDIANAPOLIS — Nyan Boateng’s childhood move from Ghana to Coney Island now pales in comparison to the long, strange road the wide receiver has taken to the NFL.

One of the country’s top recruits in both football and basketball coming out of Lincoln High School five years ago, Boateng finds himself trying to win over NFL scouts after a pothole-filled college career at Florida and Cal-Berkeley.

Boateng was invited to the scouting combine this weekend, had interviews with multiple teams Friday night and will run on the turf of Lucas Oil Stadium today, so that’s a promising start. But Sebastian Telfair’s old Lincoln teammate still is considered no better than a sixth- or seventh-round draft prospect, and Boateng knows he faces a daunting road to football riches.

“I just want to show teams that I’ve made a drastic improvement in my life,” Boateng told The Post yesterday.

Boateng has a lot to atone for, on and off the field.

His odyssey began in 2006 when, after a promising freshman season with the Gators, he was stabbed by an angry ex-girlfriend in his dorm room in Gainesville, Fla. To Boateng’s dismay, Florida coach Urban Meyer, sensitive to the tide of arrest reports involving UF players, suspended him — even though Boateng was, by all accounts, an innocent victim.

When Meyer compounded that by going back on what Boateng said was the coach’s promise to let him play both football and basketball for the Gators, Boateng decided to transfer cross-country to Cal.

But before Boateng could play a down in the Pac-10, he was arrested in Gainesville for burglary, battery and criminal mischief after a disagreement with another ex. Boateng said it was a misunderstanding and the charges eventually were dismissed.

Boateng stayed clean at Cal, thanks largely to a books-first culture he said was the polar opposite of Florida’s football-crazy hothouse, but the off-field troubles have been a big topic in his interviews with scouts.

Unfortunately for Boateng, he broke his foot early in 2009, missing two games as a result, and ended up with just 12 receptions for 166 yards and two scores in nine contests.

“He’s got some skills, but the legal stuff is a concern and there are a lot better receivers [in this year’s draft],” an NFC scout told The Post. “He’s probably looking at trying to make it as [an undrafted] free agent.”

After what Boateng has been through already, a chance is all he wants.